


The Liberation of Harrison Wells

by writergirl7



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:33:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23061760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writergirl7/pseuds/writergirl7
Summary: Dr. Harrison Wells is a National Living Treasure--someone who lives under the protection of the government of the Federal States of America on Earth 31.  He doesn't see how his life can ever improve until an invitation arrives from Earth 1 for him.  It's an invitation to travel across dimensions, help a team fight metahumans, and this just might be his chance to find freedom.
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The alarm went off at 6:30 am, just as it did every morning since he’d arrived there. Harrison winced and pulled the blankets over his head, wishing with all his might that he could change the time on his alarm. 6:29 or 6:31 would be good, just for a change. Or heck, 10:30 would be even better! He could be completely self-indulgent and loll around in bed for as long as he wanted.

The alarm got louder. Sighing, he sat up and sent a pointed look toward the corner of the room. The alarm shut off and he got out of bed and started the stretches that the doctor had taught him and he had orders to do every morning. Couldn’t skimp on them, much as he would like to. If he did, he knew the lecture he’d get and most likely, one of the few privileges he really liked would be taken away for a while. His life was circumscribed enough, so he wanted to avoid any further circumscription if possible.

Once the stretches were done, he made his bed, wrapped up in his robe, and headed for the bathroom, the carpeting soft under his feet. He washed, shaved, brushed his teeth, combed his hair, and dressed in the clothes he’d left in the bathroom the night before. He set the bathroom to rights and headed back toward his bedroom to fetch his shoes. He did a double-take when he saw the clock, crammed his feet into his shoes, and grabbed his glasses before hurrying to the living room. It wouldn’t do to be late.

He reached the living room just in time, a large, open and sunny room that was both living room and dining area for him. There was a sunken area with a sectional sofa and an entertainment center, a wall of bookshelves, floor to ceiling windows, and a dining area. The orderly was just placing his breakfast tray on the table.

“You were almost late, Dr. Wells,” he said lightly, uncovering the dishes on the tray.

“I hurried,” Harrison quickly pointed out. “I took a little too long over my stretches.”

“It was noted. Milk or lemon?”

Harrison hid a wince. He really, truly missed coffee. What harm would an occasional cup of coffee do him? Ever since the last study done on the health benefits of tea, he’d not so much as caught a whiff of coffee. “Just some sugar or honey.” Already knowing the answer, he decided to pass the time a little. “Any chance of a cup of coffee instead of tea today?”

The orderly looked at him. “I doubt it, but I could ask.”

Harrison shrugged. “Nah. Don’t waste your time. I just like asking.”

“I wouldn’t mind asking for you, but you  _ are _ allowed to request things now and then. What if you requested it for your birthday or a holiday?”

“Those are a depressingly long way away.”

“I see.”

The orderly finished laying things out and left, leaving Harrison to start his breakfast. There was a mushroom omelet, fruit salad, a wheat roll with butter, and of course, tea. He was allowed to have multiple cups of it a day if he wanted, especially of green tea, but he would kill to have an afternoon coffee break once in a while. He could count on one hand the number of times he’d had coffee since things...changed. Everyone had said that the new order would be grand, poverty and want would be ended and humanity would advance. If this was advancement, perhaps the old days merited the nostalgia with which so many people viewed them. True, there was rarely any crime, no wars, no one starved and no one lacked shelter or medical care or education, but it had all come at a price. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few and all that. 

Pushing the thoughts away, he started on his breakfast. He managed the fruit salad, 3/4ths of the omelet, and half the roll and was on his second cup of tea solely for the caffeine when his handler showed up. His official title was “secretary” or “personal assistant,” but Harrison tended to think of him as “watch dog.” 

“Morning, Dr. Wells!” Eddie Thawne said chummily, clapping him on the shoulder. “Sleep well?”

“There’s video evidence that I did,” Harrison said quietly, willing himself to stay calm. Cameras were on him all night, all day, everywhere he was, except for the bathrooms, and Eddie knew that. Still, the jerk persisted in acting as if Harrison was a distinguished  _ guest _ , which was extremely unsettling, which might be why Eddie always made him nervous.

“It’s good to see you’ve eaten almost everything, too,” Eddie continued as if he hadn’t heard Harrison’s comment. “Ready to work?”

“Lead on, MacDuff.”

Eddie clapped him on the shoulder again, this time just a touch too hard, and led Harrison out of the living room, down a hallway, and into the lab where he worked. There were two large marker boards, a desk covered with schematics, plans, and papers with its drawers stuffed with supplies, three computers on stands about the room, and as always, cameras in the corners of the room, watching his every move. “Anything on my itinerary today aside from working?”

“You’ve a conference call at 10:30 this morning, and then after that, you have a session in the gym at two. At three you have a massage scheduled.”

Harrison had been looking over the to-do list he’d left on his desk the night before, but he put it down and turned to stare at Eddie. “Who scheduled  _ that _ ?”

“Your doctor,” Eddie answered. “You had a physical yesterday, remember? He said you were carrying a lot of tension, and he felt that a massage would be beneficial.”

“He’d be wrong.”

“Doctor’s orders, doc.”

“Having a perfect stranger putting their hands all over me while I’m the next thing to naked is not what I’d call relaxing.”

Eddie chuckled. “Oh, come on, doc, live a little! Most people would love it.”

“Uh-huh. Not me. Can’t we cancel it?”

“No.”

Harrison fought down the urge to roll his eyes. “Fine.”

“Okay, beyond that, you just have some down time this afternoon. Plenty of time this morning for you to work and be creative and do amazing things.”

_ With no freedom, no self-determination, and all the comforts of a high-security resort, _ Harrison thought, waking up the nearest computer. “Leave me to it, then. I’ll see you later.”

He immersed himself in a project until it was time to take that conference call. It was a pleasant half-hour he spent then, conferring with a scientist from the other side of the country, a man who was in the same situation he was but still sounded optimistic about things. Once they hung up Harrison returned to the project he’d been working on and was still working hard when Eddie showed up with his lunch. He managed the sandwich and most of the soup and yet another cup of tea before setting aside the tray and returning to his work. At two he shut things down and went with Eddie to the gym, where a personal trainer put him through his paces on various machines and through an aerobics routine. Once that was through, he went for that dreaded massage and the masseuse had to keep telling him to relax. After an hour the masseuse gave up and released him, and Harrison was escorted back to his quarters, where he took a quick shower and changed into some soft clothes he could lounge in. Perhaps he could watch a movie or catch one of his favorite shows…

Ten seconds later, he realized he shouldn’t have turned on the television. It was the news, and he was on it.

“...and he has been doing well, according to STAR Labs. The results of his physical yesterday show that he is in excellent health. Reports on other Living National Treasures match Dr. Wells’s report.”

Harrison switched off the television before the announcer could continue and wished that he were anywhere else but where he was. Ever since the new regime had come in, he’d been declared a Living National Treasure--protected and cared for by the government, whether he wished it or not. He had no say in his own life anymore, not where he slept, how he spent his days, or what he ate or drank. No more meals at Big Belly Burger or coffee runs to Jitters, oh, no.  _ Far _ too unhealthy for a Living National Treasure. He wasn’t able to live on his own, not when there was a chance someone might break into his home, or he could injure himself or become ill and there was no one there to help him. He couldn’t walk in the streets without an escort since he might be mobbed by admirers, hit by a bus, trip over a curb, or try to leave Central City...or even better, disappear altogether. No, they couldn’t have that, not when there was so much he could do.

When he’d been taken into custody, he’d been at home reading and thinking about going to bed. His doorbell had rung, and there had been Eddie and a bunch of other men in suits that should have had “hired muscle” tattooed across their foreheads. Eddie had explained that the government had sent him and explained what Harrison’s life was going to be like from then on and why. He hadn’t even been given a chance to pack his things; he’d just been bundled into a car and taken to STAR Labs. It had been his lab before the new regime took it over and made it a federal facility. It had been expanded to include living quarters and leisure grounds for certain staff and, of course, secure quarters for him. He could remember that night clearly.

_ “You can’t do this to me,” he stated, still surrounded by Eddie and his goons as they showed him his new quarters. “There is no reason to think I’m in danger.” _

_ “It’s the government’s decision. All Living National Treasures are being taken into custody. You’ll still have your work, but you’ll live in security. You’ll have everything you need, and if you want anything, you just have to ask.” _

_ “I want my freedom,” Harrison insisted, trying to push past them to the door. _

_ He’d been put into a secure hold and wrestled into a chair. _

_ “That’s not an option anymore,” Eddie stated. “You’re going to stay here. If you cooperate, then your life will be comfortable, even enjoyable. If you make things difficult...well, you’ll only have yourself to blame.” _

Eddie hadn’t lied. The first few weeks had been pure hell. He’d tried resisting as much as he could--refusing to do any work for a government that imprisoned him, but when he’d tried that, he’d been locked in his lab and not allowed to return to his quarters until he’d accomplished something. He’d tried not eating, but a quick visit from the doctor they’d assigned him had changed his mind in minutes. The man had brought a high-calorie shake in a glass and the same stuff in a bag hooked to a feeding tube and presented Harrison with a choice. He could drink what was in the glass, or Eddie and his helpers could hold him while he was tube-fed. If necessary, the doctor said, they could do it every day until Harrison changed his mind. He’d been too afraid not to drink what was in the glass, and after that, he ate the meals they’d brought him. He’d tried breaking out of his quarters and running, but the glass had been unbreakable and he had to give up after he broke his hand trying to get out. That, and he’d been taken from his quarters and locked in a cell somewhere under the security quarters. He’d been bored out of his mind having nothing to do and no one to talk to and he got really frightened when he started to lose track of time. He thought he’d been in that cell for weeks, but it turned out to be only four days, so he stopped trying to break out of his quarters.

Once he settled in, things got better for him. He was allowed to work on his own projects alongside the projects assigned to him from the government (progress on those were as slow as he thought he could get away with) and he had comfortable--if video-surveilled--quarters to retire to at the end of the day. Once he’d been there nine months without a mishap or show of defiance on his part, they’d arranged an outing for him to one of the best restaurants in town and to attend a symphony concert. On holidays and his birthday he was able to request one thing he really wanted (coffee usually won over a Big Belly Burger, but once he asked for an order of cheese fries) and if he wanted something like books or movies or games, he just had to ask. When he’d been there a year an overnight outing had been arranged to a resort out in the country--he’d gone biking, swimming, boating, and even tried his hand at riding a horse. That was the only activity that had not gone well. He’d fallen and broken his ankle and he’d heard about it for weeks that it could have been his neck instead and that he shouldn’t risk himself unnecessarily. He doubted that he’d want to get on a horse again anytime soon, and he wanted to at least have the option, but horseback riding was now listed in his file as an activity that he was not to engage in. 

This was now his life. Someone else was making all the decisions for him, outlining the work he was to do, determining the people he could help...all of it just because some government bigwigs decided he should be considered a national treasure. Scientists, artists, writers, composers, dancers...if you could make a significant contribution to arts, letters, or the sciences, you were a national treasure. You had fans. Your well-being and your latest work was covered in the nightly news. You were protected and given the best of everything, and most ironic of all, you became a prisoner that did what you were told when you were told in a supposedly free society.

Some part of him wanted to just give up and accept it--he wanted to stop finding ways to drag his feet on the government projects, to stop resisting every little thing they wanted him to do, and to stop questioning each time they told him something. It would make his life much easier and he wouldn’t spend so much time thinking. Instead, he could have his work, a life where all of his major needs were taken care of and a good number of his wants, but...no. Some part of him railed against his circumstances every moment of every day. There was a part of him that said, “Don’t give in. Find a way out. You can’t accept this--it’s wrong. Find a way to fix this and make things right.”

The hardest thing about it, though, was that he had no idea how to fix it and he had no idea how to start. 

  
  


The following morning started just like every other morning. He was up, washed, dressed, fed, and escorted to the first item on his schedule: a morning swim. One was on his schedule three times a week. A quick wash in the gym shower and then he was on his way to his office. Eddie left him there with a project that he insisted had to be seen to today: a way to detect meta-humans. Since the reactor explosion, they’d been popping up everywhere--a few of them had turned themselves in at hospitals so they could receive treatment, but many more of them were hiding, preferring to have the odd abilities the arc reactor had given them. All the best minds in the government agreed that not having treatment was dangerous, but there were plenty of die-hards out there that didn’t want to be found. He felt somewhat responsible for them since it had been his arc reactor that had exploded, even if he hadn’t been the one behind the controls for that particular mishap.

He woke up his computer and tried to bring up the modeling program, but the darn thing froze. He sat there waiting for it to unfreeze and he was about to shut it down and reboot when he realized that the hum of the security cameras had stopped. He looked at the nearest camera and saw that it was off. What…?

His computer came to life then. A light shot out from the screen, scanned Harrison and the surrounding area, and then a 3D display popped up of a young man with dark hair. 

_ “Hey there!” _ he said cheerfully.  _ “My name is Cisco Ramon and you may or may not know a version of me on your Earth. You’re Harrison Wells. My team and I on Earth 1 are looking for you. You see, there are hundreds of different Earths all vibrating at different frequencies, or if you like, different dimensions.” _ He paused and smiled while Harrison goggled at the image.  _ “I know, I know, unless you already knew about it, it’s a lot to take in. So, the reason why we’re contacting you: My team and I need the brains and abilities of Harrison Wells. The Wells in our dimension is not available, so we’re looking for help. If the timeline has held true in your dimension, then the reactor exploded and now there are tons of meta-humans or individuals with unusual abilities running around. We’ve got a lot of them here and we’re trying to round them up, stop them attacking people, but...yeah. We’re not doing so hot. It’s a handful of us against hundreds, maybe thousands, and we were doing a lot better when we had a Harrison Wells on our side.”  _ The youngster stopped and grinned.  _ “Here’s the exciting part of my presentation: If you’d like to see a new dimension, get away from your Earth for a while, and help some people, then we’d like to extend an invitation to you to come to our Earth. We can promise comfortable accommodations, meals, and other stuff you’ll need. A cryptogram will appear--think of it as an aptitude test. Underneath it an alphanumeric code will show up. Once you’ve solved the cryptogram, type that code into your keyboard and the answer to the cryptogram, and a recording program will open. We’ll be able to record you, so when it opens, tell us a bit about yourself and if you’re interested in coming. It’ll close automatically when you stop speaking and send the file to us. We hope to hear from you soon!”  _

Still in shock, Harrison copied down the cryptogram and the code and the program closed. Everything was back to normal. 

His office door banged open, startling the life out of him. He clapped a hand to his chest and stared at his head watchdog. “God! Eddie! What’s the matter?!”

“Are you okay?” Eddie demanded, huffing a bit from the effort of kicking the door open. 

“I think so,” Harrison said, staring at the wreckage that had been his door frame. He hadn’t even heard Eddie kicking on the door. How had he managed to cause that much damage to a steel door frame? “I mean, I wasn’t scared until you kicked the door open. It doesn’t lock, you know. Why’d you kick the door?”

“Every single camera in here shut down. Were you doing something?”

Harrison held up the paper he’d been writing on. “A cryptogram.”

Eddie stared at the paper and then looked around the room. “That’s it?”

“That’s it. Maybe you guys should check the cameras?”

With a disgusted sigh, Eddie left to talk to the security people, and Harrison turned his attention back to the cryptogram. It looked like...a challenge. A  _ fun _ challenge. Even if he couldn’t go, he could at least solve the puzzle, couldn’t he?

  
  


He solved the cryptogram in just about an hour. It was  _ brilliant _ and he wondered just who had devised it. There had been not just one hidden message, but  _ three _ . Whoever had written it must think in 3-D! He finished writing out the hidden messages and grinned when he read them. I HAVE SOLVED THE PUZZLES. ALL THREE OF THEM. I AM THE AWESOME HARRISON WELLS. He turned to the computer, typed in the code, and then the answer. A second later, the monitor on his computer went white, then blue, and the security cameras shut off again.

“Uh...hi,” he said quietly. “I can tell you guys know about this place since you shut off the security cameras each time. Security’s pretty tight, especially around me. Thanks for sending me the cryptogram--it was pretty nice to have a diversion, but you’d have better luck looking for a Harrison Wells elsewhere. They’d...they’d never let me go. I think what you’re doing is incredible. I mean, you’re up against impossible odds but you’re still trying to make a difference. Here, they just...try to make the problem go away, by almost any means necessary.” He stopped and swallowed hard. He didn’t want to think too much about the plight of meta-humans where he lived. It was the stuff of nightmares, and he knew that a lot of the government projects he’d been forced to work on were being used for those nightmares. “Anyway, thanks for thinking of me. I hope your efforts go well. This is Harrison Wells, signing off.”

As promised, the program closed down, and Harrison leaned back in his chair, picking up the pad where he’d been making notes. He’d written about three lines when Eddie stormed in again. “ARE YOU SURE YOU HAVEN’T TOUCHED THE CAMERAS?”

Harrison jumped. “Is this going to be a regular thing with you from now on,  _ scaring _ me? No, I have not touched the cameras! I meant it when I said you should probably have them checked!”

Eddie glowered at him, and Harrison could see the wheels in his head turning. “Okay. We’re going to move you to your quarters until we can get these cameras checked. Can you work on what you’re working on in your quarters?”

“I’m just making notes, so yeah.” Harrison got up from his chair, gathered his materials, and allowed himself to be ushered out. He knew there would be no point in arguing. Once they got him to his room he set up his notes and books on the table and kept working. 

He was deep in his fourteenth page of notes when he heard a commotion from outside. Confused, he lifted his head. That was an awful lot of noise. He turned to Eddie, who was lurking in the corner. “Do you hear that?”

“Yep,” Eddie said, his brow knitted in confusion. “Stay put for a second.” He went to the window and looked out and Harrison could tell from the sudden tension in his shoulders that something was wrong.

“What is it?” Harrison asked. “What’s going on?”

“We should probably get you to a secure cell,” Eddie said, moving quickly to Harrison’s side and taking his arm. “Come on.”

“This whole building is a secure cell,” Harrison protested. “What’s going on outside?”

“Don’t argue with me,” Eddie snapped, his grip on Harrison’s arm turning painful. 

“Ow!” Harrison didn’t know what made him do it, but he tried to pull away. “Let go!”

Suddenly, there was a figure in red inside the room, heading right for them. Harrison almost didn’t see it since it was moving so fast, but a second later it had knocked Eddie away from Harrison and then wrapped an arm around his waist. “Wait, what are you--?”

Speed...HIT...him. The world blurred past him as the speedster picked him up and ran with him. Somehow, they were moving through the walls of the building and then they were rushing down the street. Harrison screamed when they dodged an eighteen-wheeler and screamed again when they somehow ran through another building. They ran into a larger open space and then they hit a wall of light, and if anything, their speed got worse. A chaos of images and another wall of light and then they tumbled to a stop, with Harrison falling to all fours in shock. He could hear his breath whistling in and out and some tiny, calm corner of his brain told him to slow his breathing since he was hyperventilating. 

“Did things not go well?” a voice he knew he’d heard before but couldn’t place asked. 

“More or less,” the red figure answered. “Tons of security, like you said, but we made it.”

A pair of high heels came into Harrison’s line of sight and then he felt hands on his shoulders. “Dr. Wells? Dr. Wells, try to take a slow breath for me. If you keep hyperventilating, you’re going to lose consciousness.”

Harrison struggled to obey, but his body felt as if it were shaking itself to pieces.

“Breathe with me,” the woman instructed. “In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four.”

With the woman’s help he managed to slow his breathing. Soon, he was sitting in a chair with his head between his knees while she kept hold of his shoulders and encouraged him to keep breathing. Finally, he felt human and raised his head. “Okay, who are you people? What the hell just happened? Where are we, and most importantly,  _ what is going on _ ?”

“Easy to tell,” the first voice said, coming to where Harrison could see him. Somewhere along the way he’d lost his glasses. “Do you recognize me?”

Harrison squinted and the young man’s features became clear. “You’re that guy from the hologram...from Earth 1. You were looking for a Harrison Wells...wait a minute! I told you I couldn’t come!”

The red figure removed his mask and shook his head. “No, you said that they wouldn’t let you come here. We checked up on you and they were keeping you prisoner. Don’t tell me you wanted to stay there.”

“Of course I didn’t!” Harrison snarled, a bit angry that they hadn’t even asked if he’d wanted to be rescued. “But do you have any idea what they’re going to do to me when I go back?! They’re going to look for me, they’re going to find me, and then they’re going to make me disappear!”

“Who says you need to go back?” Cisco asked. “There’s lots of Earths out there. You can go anywhere you like.”

His words sank in and Harrison felt a little dazed.

“Maybe we should take things one at a time,” the woman said, noticing Harrison’s expression. “Plenty of time to think about things like that later.”

“Okay,” Cisco agreed. “Maybe we could talk about it over lunch? I’m up for a Big Belly Burger if you guys are.”

Harrison couldn’t believe that these people could just calmly kidnap him and then start discussing lunch as if...wait. “Did you say Big Belly Burger?”

“Yeah,” Cisco agreed. “Looks like it’s something that’s universal.”

Harrison told his stomach to shut up and behave, but his stomach roared and his mouth watered. “What about coffee?”

The guy in the red suit raised his eyebrows and looked a bit confused. “What  _ about _ coffee?”

“Can I have some?”

“Sure,” Mr. Red Suit said. “As much as you want.”

Harrison felt a smile start. “Okay. Let’s have some Big Belly Burger and some coffee and we can talk.” 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“I think that’s the most I’ve ever seen anyone eat in one sitting,” Dr. Caitlin Snow said as Harrison leaned back in his chair with a happy sigh. He’d had a triple-decker, a double order of cheese and bacon fries, and the biggest, sweetest coffee that Jitters had on their menu.

“If you think that, then you haven’t been paying attention to how much your friend in red just ate,” Harrison retorted, wiping his fingers with a napkin. “I’ve never seen anyone eat that much food in a week, let alone one meal.”

Barry gave him a sheepish smile. “Yeah, I’ve got a super-fast metabolism. All that speed does it. One drawback to it, though, is that I can’t get drunk since my body burns off the alcohol almost as fast as I drink it.”

Harrison blinked. “Wow. That must suck.”

“I think your situation sucked more,” Cisco said, nibbling on a last fry. “You weren’t allowed any fast food or even coffee? Only a sadist would deny somebody coffee!”

“That’s most of the government back home, I think,” Harrison admitted. “One second, I was at home, free as a bird and thinking about going to bed, and the next, I was on my way to my new life as a ward of STAR Labs. My biggest regret was that I hadn’t appreciated my last cup of coffee enough.”

Everybody smiled at the joke. 

“Well, you’ve heard what’s been going on here and what we’re up against,” Cisco said, returning to the topic that had been circling in Harrison’s mind all through the meal. “Any thoughts?”

“You guys are in over your head,” Harrison said bluntly. “In my world, there weren’t so many metahumans, but here...there’s a lot more. A LOT more. Why do you think there’s so many more here than where I’m from?”

“I try not to waste mental energy on suppositions,” Caitlin sighed. “I need to conserve as much as I can for the problems we’ve got.”

Cisco raised a hand. “Lately, ditto for me.”

“And me,” Barry said. “Half the time, it’s run around town, stop the latest metahuman, avert the latest crisis, and then go home and fall into bed so I can get up and we can do it all again the next day, and that’s in addition to my day job.”

Harrison looked around the table at the three youngsters who had rescued him. They all looked exhausted. “When was the last time the three of you had a break?”

“To quote an awesome and very funny movie, ‘Who has time for things like that?’” Cisco said. “Seriously, though, I doubt any of us know. Even with Iris and Joe helping.”

Harrison blinked. “Who?”

“Joe’s my adoptive father and Iris, his daughter, is my wife,” Barry explained. 

“How did he take it when you told him you were getting married?” Harrison couldn’t keep himself from asking.

“It was a conversation, to be sure,” Barry told him.

Cisco looked past Harrison and smiled. “Hey, speak of the devil! Hi, guys!”

Barry was out of his chair in an instant to greet them. “Hey! How was your trip?”

“Long,” Iris told him. “We got all the things we needed and dropped Ralph where he needed to go, though, so that’s good.” 

“Glad to be back,” Joe said, stopping when he spotted Harrison. “And this is…?”

“Harrison Wells from Earth 41,” Cisco said. “Harrison, meet Iris and Joe West.”

“Pleased to meet you, Dr. Wells,” Joe said as Harrison got to his feet to shake their hands. 

“Oh, please, just call me Harrison. Nobody back home would, so it’d be nice to hear my name again.”

“Harrison, then,” Joe said, shaking Wells’s hand. “Welcome to Earth 1.”

“Why do you guys call this Earth 1? I mean, how do you really know which Earth it is?”

“Well, we really don’t, so we just called it 1, for simplicity’s sake,” Barry said with a shrug. “After all, it’s the first one any of us knew.”

“Put that way, it makes sense,” Harrison agreed. He turned and looked at Barry. “Are you sure you want me for this? I mean, people back home are most likely really pissed at you now, and they’ll be looking for me. They don’t let people like me go.”

“You’re our best shot,” Barry said, and Cisco nodded in agreement. “We took the liberty of examining all your work and you’re the only one who replied to the cryptogram who has the knowledge we need.”

Harrison nodded thoughtfully and dropped back into his chair. “Okay. What exactly do you need? Technology? Software? Something else?”

“Mark ‘all of the above,’” Caitlin said. “And then some. We need your insight and knowledge and...just, well, you.”

“I couldn’t have put it better myself,” Iris admitted. “We do a lot better with a Harrison Wells on the team.”

“I know I’d feel better about having two of my kids going up against all these metas if they have someone with your smarts on their side,” Joe put in. “In case you missed these bags under my eyes, I don’t sleep well.”

“With everything that’s been going on, Joe, none of us sleep well,” Cisco reminded him.

Harrison looked around. “If this is STAR Labs, then where’s all the other staff?”

“You’re looking at it,” Barry sighed. “It’s just us. Occasionally we’ll have a friend stop by and lend a hand, but we’re now the staff.”

“All of the staff,” Cisco stated. “Granted, we’re good, but no one is so good that they can’t use some help.” 

Nodding, Harrison got back to his feet. “Would one of you show me around?”

Cisco was elected to do the tour and he showed Harrison everything: the defunct Particle Accelerator, the pipeline, the reference library, the Cortex, the workrooms, the Speed Lab, and the other labs.

“This area used to be some labs, but we’ve converted this room and the two next to it into living quarters,” Cisco said, leading Harrison into a large room divided into different areas by screens. “Sometimes one of us will crash here, if needed, but mostly, they’re rooms for our guests. This is where you’ll stay, if you choose to stay.”

“So, the guy in this dimension was just somebody wearing my face, and he killed the original owner of my face, and he was the one who set up Star Labs? And before he died, he proclaimed that he was the guilty party in Barry’s mother’s murder?”

“Exactly,” Ramon said thoughtfully. “Y’know, you’re pretty good with weird stuff.”

“I’ve learned to be adaptable,” Harrison said, looking around. “Is there a lock on the door?”

“Yeah, but the door’s never locked, not unless you lock it yourself from the inside. You’d have the freedom of the whole facility and the city.”

“Wouldn’t people see my face and recognize a murderer?”

Cisco grinned at him and fetched something from the bedside table. “This is a little gift from our last Wells. Think of it as a hologram projector: it can change your appearance. You’ll be able to look like someone else whenever you leave the grounds, so that means you can go practically anywhere. We can get a set of IDs and a driver’s license for you, too, so you’d be all legit.”

Harrison stared at him. “You’d let me drive?”

“Sure!” Cisco said with a grin. “Why not?”

Visions of driving to Big Belly Burger or Jitters filled Harrison’s head. Fast food and coffee runs...stopping by a bookstore or library just to browse...going to the nearest park and just sitting there without anyone approaching him...He sank down on the nearest bed, holding his head in his hands.

“Um...I’m really sorry if I said something to upset you. Are you okay?” Cisco asked.

Harrison raised his head and wiped his eyes. “I’m great, just a little overwhelmed. To have no freedom for such a long time and then to suddenly have freedom is wonderful! I’d be able to work on other stuff, too, in addition to all the meta-human stuff?”

“Whatever you want,” Cisco promised. “I mean, it was pretty underhanded of us, to just take you like we did, so we pretty much owe you.” 

Harrison grinned. “If you keep giving me coffee and letting me eat Big Belly Burger, I’d say you’ve repaid any debt. How long would it take for you to get the IDs and all?”

“About a week or so,” Cisco told him. “You’ll be the first I tell; I promise.”

They returned to the Cortex then, Cisco giving him more details about their exploits.

“How the hell have you managed to pull all this stuff off?” Harrison asked as they reached their destination.

“We’re extraordinarily lucky,” Barry said, hearing Harrison’s question. “That, and we’ve got awesome people on our team. What’d you think of the tour?”

“Given that my watch dog isn’t here, it was great,” Harrison said. “He’s not much fun. So, what’s next?”

Barry looked him up and down. “Um...you’re gonna need some stuff. I’m sorry that I didn’t give you a chance to pack, but I wanted to get you away before they could figure out how to stop me.”

“How would they stop you?” Harrison asked.

“Oh, there’s ways,” Barry admitted. “Now, we’ve got two choices: I could go back and pick up your things, or we could get you some new stuff, but you’d have to come along to try things on.”

Harrison felt himself go cold. “No. Nonononono. No. You can’t go back there. They’ve seen you, they’ll have had time to study you, and they’ll be prepared just in case you come back. The government encourages metahumans to check into hospitals for treatment and then they disappear. Trust me; metahumans are in demand. It wouldn’t be safe for you.”

“Okay, so that leaves a shopping trip. Who would you like to go with you?”

Harrison tried to quell his excitement. A shopping trip! A trip outside of STAR Labs! “Would you and Cisco both be able to come? You can let me know what’s in style.”

“A Wells who follows fashion,” Iris said thoughtfully. “That’s a first.”

“Also cool,” Caitlin added.

Joe looked at the hesitant looks on the ladies’ faces and realized that they really didn’t want to go shopping at that moment, for whatever reason. “Why don’t we make this a ‘guys’ trip?” he suggested. “We can all get to know each other and we can stop any fashion mistakes that might happen.” He gave a pointed look at Cisco.

“Hey, my look is classic,” Cisco said, defending his fashion sense.

“A Minecraft T-shirt does not a look make,” Joe countered.

“Sure it does,” Cisco said as they all got their coats and Joe offered Harrison his spare one. “It makes a great look.”

Harrison followed along, trying to quell the elation that was rising in his chest and making him a bit giddy. This was his first trip out without a bodyguard in...well, years! “I hate to ask it, but could I have the front seat?”

“Sure,” Barry said, clapping him on the shoulder. 

“Don’t forget this,” Cisco said, handing him the gadget that could change his appearance. “You’ll need to carry it with you each time you leave, okay? The last thing we need is to try to break you out of jail.”

“Or to explain how you’re still alive,” Joe said as they all clambered into the van.

They drove to a shopping mall and for the entire trip Harrison was glued to the window, watching the buildings and people pass. None of them had that worried and tense but still cheerful look so many people wore in his home dimension. Once the car was parked Harrison checked to be sure that the image generator was working and he followed his new friends into the mall.

The people and noise and music in the mall was better than fireworks. He wanted to see and hear everything all at once.

“Where should we stop first?” Cisco asked.

“Well, we need clothes, shoes, some toiletries, a few other things,” Joe said, checking the directory. “Got it. Let’s go, Harrison. We’re gonna stop by my favorite store.”

There was a stereo groaning behind them. “Not there!” Cisco complained. “He’s gonna look awful!”

“He’ll look like a tired businessman, Joe,” Barry added.

Harrison and Joe traded looks. “I’m sensing a generational divide, here,” Harrison said after a moment.

“Yep,” Joe agreed. “Why don’t you two go pick up some tech for Harrison and he and I will get the clothes and spare you two any pain?”

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Cisco said, heading in a different direction. “We can always fix any damage later. Let’s go, Barry.”

“Just what kind of clothes do they think we’re going to get?” Harrison asked once they were out of earshot.

“They have trouble believing that I wear anything other than my suits, but trust me, they’ve seen me in other stuff all the time. Let’s go pick some stuff out for you.”

They didn’t make it to the shop quickly. Harrison kept getting distracted by all the displays and store windows and kiosks, so they made it to the store at a snail’s pace.

“We can come back,” Joe promised him as they reached the store. “Now, what do you like wearing?”

Harrison looked at his present attire, grinned, and leaned closer to Joe to whisper, “They keep putting me in these suits--would casual clothes be okay?”

“That would be fine,” Joe promised. “Whatever you’d prefer wearing.”

An hour and a half later, they’d picked out some jeans, short and long-sleeved t-shirts, some sweatshirts, some workout clothes, some nightclothes, a robe, and of course, the needed undergarments and socks. They headed to the shoe department and Harrison picked out a pair of casual sneakers, some running shoes, and a pair of boots. He added a pair of slippers to his pile when he spotted a pair he liked.

“You’ll need a better coat than the one you’ve got, and some gloves, since it’s starting to get cold,” Joe said, leading the way to the outerwear section of the store. “That coat’s too thin for really cold weather and it’s too small for you.”

Harrison shrugged, feeling the coat bunch up around his shoulders. “It’s better than nothing, so I appreciate it.”

Joe gave him a smile. “Got a favorite color?”

“For a coat? Whatever’s warm.”

They found him a black peacoat that looked great on him, a pair of black leather gloves, and a red scarf. Just because he couldn’t resist it, he picked up a heavy felt fedora and put it on. The whole outfit looked good. “How do I look?”

“Like a really sophisticated Dick Tracy,” Joe said, grinning.

Harrison looked at him, confused. “Who?”

Joe waved a hand in the air and smiled. “I’ll explain later. Let’s go meet the boys.”

They met up with Barry and Cisco in front of a place called Auntie Anne’s, which sold big, soft pretzels, still warm from the oven. Barry had already eaten two cinnamon-sugar pretzels while they’d been waiting and Cisco hurried to buy one for Harrison.

“I’ve heard of these in Germania, but I’ve never seen them sold here,” Harrison said quietly when Cisco handed him his pretzel. He took a bite and a beatific smile spread over his face. “Oh. Mmmmm. Oh, why did these never catch on back home? They don’t know what they’re missing!”

“I feel kinda sorry for them, the poor sods,” Cisco said thoughtfully. “Like it?”

“Oh, yeah,” Harrison said enthusiastically, gazing at the perfection that was a cinnamon sugar pretzel. “This might be my new favorite thing.”

“Wait until we take you to Sweet Street,” Barry said. “You’ll love it.”

“What’s Sweet Street?”

“Candy shop,” Cisco said happily. “You can get a sugar rush just from walking in the front door.”

Harrison stared at him. “I’m allowed to have candy?” It slipped out before he could stop himself.

Both young men looked at Joe. “We gotta take him there now,” Barry said. “Please, Joe?”

Joe gave his adoptive son a look. “I’m just thinking back to all those times we went to Sweet Street when you were younger and just how much work I had to do to get you out of there.”

“You had to work just as hard with Iris,” Barry reminded him.

“Iris would sometimes listen to reason while you never did,” Joe said patiently. “Now I’ve got you and Cisco. Neither one of you will listen to reason when there’s sugar to be had.”

“What if I’m the voice of reason?” Harrison suggested. “I can’t help but think about things like fudge and cinnamon candy and chocolate...I promise, I’ll cut us all off if things get too crazy.”

“I have a feeling I’m gonna regret this, but okay,” Joe sighed. “If you haven’t had candy in years, then we shouldn’t deny you any longer. Let’s go.”

Sweet Street was a large candy shop, painted red, white, and pink, with a white and black tiled floor. Bouncy-sounding music played over the speakers and the smell of sugar wafted right up to them as they entered. Glass-fronted counters displaying cavity-causing temptations lined either wall, and stands down the middle of the store held all of a sugar fiend’s dearest dreams. Along the back wall glass tube dispensers held sugary staples like gummy bears, jelly beans, and other delicious items that people could dispense themselves to make their own goody bags, and Harrison was sure he’d drown with the way his mouth was watering. “Wow…”

Barry and Cisco were grinning and Cisco gave his shoulder a warm pat. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Too beautiful for words,” Harrison agreed.

“Harrison, are you still going to be that voice of reason?” Joe asked, snapping them all out of their reverie. 

“I’m sure I can muster up the willpower,” Harrison answered, his eyes still on all of the treats around him. “Somehow…”

Joe tapped him on the shoulder and handed him a folded bill. “What’s this?”

“That’s twenty bucks for you to spend on yourself in here,” Joe told him. “Go wild, and then when you’ve spent it all, you become the voice of reason again, okay?”

Harrison grinned. “Okay!”

They left the shop close to an hour later, with Harrison laden down with all the candy that twenty could buy. He had fudge, chocolate, cinnamon jawbreakers, gummy bears, and taffy. Barry and Cisco had each gotten themselves something and Barry had picked up some sweets for Iris and Caitlin as well.

In the car on the way back to STAR Labs, Barry and Cisco gave him the rundown on the items they’d picked up for him. He had the latest cell phone with bluetooth and a tablet. They had a computer for him already at the lab. “Thanks,” Harrison said. “I appreciate it--I wasn’t allowed a cell phone back home.”

“Why?” Cisco asked, sounding genuinely confused.

Harrison shrugged. “They probably thought I’d use it to plot an escape.”

Harrison was looking out the window enjoying himself when he spotted JITTERS. “Jitters!” he said, nearly bouncing out of his seat. “Could we stop? PLEASE???” Joe was fighting down laughter as they stopped he handed him some money, and Harrison said he’d be right back with coffee for everyone. 

Walking into a coffee shop was the stuff of dreams. The scent of coffee hit him as soon as he opened the door and he just had to stop and breathe it in for a moment before approaching the counter. Once there, he had a different problem--the menu was huge! How would he ever choose?

It took him a few minutes, but he made his purchases and headed back to the car. The money here was a strange color compared to home, but it still purchased coffee, which was what was important! 

Joe stared at Harrison as he got into the car and distributed coffee for all of them. There were some cups left, and two of them were for Caitlin and Iris, but what about the other three? 

“Sorry for splurging, but I just couldn’t help myself,” Harrison said after a moment. He took a sip of one of the three coffees he’d bought for himself. “It’s been a loooooong time since I was able to go to a coffee shop.”

He was understanding when all three of his new friends started laughing.


	3. Chapter 3

Fate seemed to have mercy on Harrison in the following weeks. Things were very quiet on the meta-human front, so that meant that he could devote his time to settling in and reviewing the projects they were all working on. He was able to refine Cisco’s early-warning system to make it more efficient, and more importantly, faster, and he designed a new algorithm that was able to take disparate bits of information and draw likely conclusions as to whether certain events meant a meta-human was behind them. That meant that they had two early-warning systems at their disposal, both for short and long-term. 

Aside from that, he spent some time in the design lab, working on some projects of his own. He’d had to put a lot of his projects on hold while in the hands of the government back home, and if he worked on any of them, he had to restrict the time he worked on them. Now, he had all the time he wanted.

He didn’t spend all his time working, his new friends made sure of that. One night, Cisco and Barry appeared in the design lab and pulled him away from the interface, saying that they were going out. They surprised him with a trip to the movies, with all the popcorn, soda, and candy he could eat, as well as a big, soft pretzel with cheese sauce. He’d had fun at the double-feature, enjoying the action flick and campy horror movie that actually made him jump once or twice. While he felt a little sick from all the junk food, he’d enjoyed himself immensely. 

His IDs and more importantly, his driver’s license, were soon ready for him, and he leapt at the chance to run errands and to go different places. If anyone at STAR Labs said they needed something, he’d reach for the van keys before anyone else could. He made an almost-daily run to Jitters, and he signed up for a public library card and a card at the university library. He’d come back with bags full of books and spend his evenings reading up on the history and societies of the world he now lived in. While the two were remarkably similar, it looked like his world had tended more toward authoritarianism rather than democracy. There had never been a World War II in his dimension, but there had been a Pan-European Conflict. Interested in that period of history, he soon went to bookstores and purchased his own copies of books about that time, which he found fascinating reading. Germania had largely been the instigator of the Pan-European Conflict and its attendant suffering and loss of life, so that was probably why Germania and its culture was still…unpopular. The death toll and economic devastation had been remarkable on Earth 1, but on his Earth...well. Best remember the history lesson so it was never repeated. At any rate, it answered why pretzels had never caught on in his home dimension. 

If he wasn’t reading during his spare time, he was jogging in one of the parks in Star City. It was fabulous to be able to go to a park and just start jogging, rather than jogging on a treadmill in the workout center with his guard dog nearby. He loved being outside with no one to hurry him back to work, and usually at the end of his jog, he would stroll the paths to cool down. One very hot and sunny day, he’d spread a blanket on the grass and went back to STAR Labs with a touch of sunburn, but he’d enjoyed being outside as long as he wanted, doing nothing. No deadlines, no forced work, no Eddie reminding him about his stupid schedule. It was bliss.

The whole team and Joe came to find him one Saturday morning, all of them dressed in casual clothes and sneakers, and all of them grinning. “What’s going on?”

“We’re going on a day trip,” Barry said. “You’ll want comfortable clothes and sneakers.”

“Where are we going?”

“That’s a surprise,” Caitlin told him. “Hurry up!”

Harrison hurried, and shortly they were all in the van and headed out of the city. “Should we be leaving town?”

“Relax, I’ve got a link to the early-warning systems,” Cisco said. “We’re going to have some fun today.”

The surprise was an amusement park called FunWorld, which he’d seen advertised on TV since his arrival, but he’d never thought of going to. All of them put on sunscreen, pulled on hats to keep off the sun, and headed toward the entrance.

“How long has it been since you’ve been to an amusement park?” Joe asked as they got tickets and headed inside. 

“Not since I was in my twenties,” Harrison said truthfully. “You?”

“Last time was when I brought Barry and Iris here as a graduation gift,” Joe said, the memory making him smile. “They wore me out, but boy, did we have fun!”

Bumper cars, roller coasters, a carousel, a Ferris wheel, small rides that went much faster than they should have, a log ride, and other rides that went much too high and fast and scared the hell out of him, but they were all very, very fun. They stopped to have lunch and Harrison happily dug into pizza and cheese fries and the largest soda he could get, and afterward, they hit the games section of the park. Harrison tried ring toss, the milk bottle pitch, balloon darts, the duck pond, and a few sharp-shooting games, winning three stuffed animals, which he gave to three thrilled kids when he spotted them. They caught an acrobatics performance where the gymnasts did incredible things with rings and balls, and they did tricks and sets with each other that made Harrison nervous that one of them would get hurt. He was on his feet with the rest of the audience at the end of the performance, clapping and cheering along with everyone else. Then, it was back to the rides for several hours, dinner, and then a fireworks show. By the time the park closed, Harrison was exhausted, but he’d had a great deal of fun.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” Harrison said as they got into the van for the ride back. “It was great! I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun!”

“You’re welcome,” Barry said, clapping him on the shoulder. “After everything you’ve been through, you deserve to have fun.”

It was good they had fun when they had, because the next day a metahuman attacked. It was, literally, a type of vampire that fed on not blood, but on the electrical energy the human body generated as it operated. People were falling in the streets after being fed on, and this particular metahuman, dubbed Dracula 2.0 by Cisco, presented a unique challenge. His name was Spencer Coombe, and he’d been born with a congenital eye condition that made him all but blind, but after becoming a meta, he was able to sense people’s electrical energy to find them and feed. Barry’s body generated a huge amount of energy when he used his speed, so he was Dracula 2.0’s version of an all-you-can eat Las Vegas buffet.

“Two questions, and they can be answered later, but who was Dracula and what is Las Vegas?” Harrison asked as he and Cisco scrambled to the computer interfaces to start running simulations.

“Dracula’s a really famous vampire and Las Vegas is a city known for being over-the-top in all things, even their food,” Cisco answered. “We’ve had people that feed on energy before, but this guy is something else!”

Iris brought up the GPS program that allowed them to monitor Barry’s position in real time. “We might have to take this guy down outside of the city,” she said, watching Barry dart around. “This guy’s freaky fast for a meta, and if we get him away from everyone else, he might not be able to replenish his energy.”

Harrison looked at the map and studied the footage that had been captured of the meta’s attacks on others. “If Mr. Coombe manages to attack Barry, then we’ll have a really powerful and well-fed meta on our hands. He has to be close to other people, you’re right. In each attack, he’s always about two feet from the victim.” He watched another and then noticed something else. Dracula 2.0 seemed stronger in sunlight. “If we get him inside and away from the sun, then we cut off some of his strength. I think that’s giving him enough speed to pursue Barry.”

“It’s a bit harder for Barry to run in enclosed spaces,” Caitlin reminded him.

“Then we give Dracula 2.0 something to chase so he forgets about Barry,” Harrison said with a smile that did not bode well for their target. “Iris, have Barry stall him until we give the signal that we’re ready, and then have him lead Dracula 2.0 here. Cisco and Joe, give me a hand!”

Cisco stared after him for a moment and grinned. “A Wells who likes my meta names! _Yes_!!”

They headed down to the Speed Lab, where Harrison showed them how to set up an electrical field that mimicked the ion channels and action potentials of the human body, then they replicated the field several times over, making the room seem crowded with lots of people.

“What happens if Dracula 2.0 gets his claws on all this power?” Joe wanted to know as they stepped out of the field’s arc and into the center of the room.

Harrison shrugged. “One of two things: he either gets really, really full, or....”

“He’s crispy barbecue?” Cisco suggested.

Harrison had to pause at the odd word. “Barbecue?”

“You’ve never had _barbecue_? Oh, man…”

“Not the time, Cisco!” Joe reminded him.

“Right,” Harrison agreed, and he hit the speaker on his phone. “Iris, have Barry head to the Speed Lab and tell him to stop in the middle of the room!” Once Iris acknowledged, Harrison waited for Barry to come streaking in, and he threw the switch.

Dracula 2.0 was right behind him, and he appeared in the doorway, tall and menacing. “I am HUNGRY!” A pause, then he stepped forward into the room.

The resulting discharge of power knocked them all off their feet, and for a few seconds, Harrison felt as if he’d been hit by a truck wielding a cattle prod. He staggered to his feet and spotted Dracula 2.0, lying on the floor and giving off a faint odor of smoke. He was unconscious. Harrison pulled out the metahuman cuffs and cuffed him before he could wake up.

Cisco sat up, looking dazed. “Well, that was fun. I never need to do anything like that ever again, you know? Hey, did you know you look like a troll doll?”

“What’s a troll doll?” Maybe Cisco had gotten hit by a stray bit of power and he needed to be checked out.

“It’s a little doll with hair that sticks up.”

Harrison ran his hand over his hair as Joe and Barry picked themselves up. All of them had their hair sticking up in all directions, even Barry: it was sticking out from his head gear wherever it could, and it made him look a bit punch-drunk.

“Okay, I gotta know how you knew it would knock him out,” Joe said, examining the conscious meta.

“Easy,” Harrison said, finding a chair and dropping into it. “He only ever attacked one person at a time. A human or even metahuman body can only handle so much electricity at once. He’s either had a very good meal just now, or he was overloaded, but at any rate, the result was the same: incapacitation. I’m sure that even the people who visit the buffets in Las Vegas would have to sleep off those huge meals.”

“Let’s get him into the pipeline and then we’ll arrange to get him to Iron Heights,” Barry said, walking carefully toward the meta. “Great job, Harrison. Glad you’re here.”

Cisco caught sight of himself in a reflective surface and gave an anguished sigh. “My hair...oh, my poor hair.”

“I’m sure it’ll recover,” Harrison promised him, going over to help Barry with the meta. “Once we have Mr. Coombe stowed away and we all get cleaned up, I’d love to hear about what barbecue is.”

“Dude, I think we just became it,” Cisco groaned. 

Harrison looked himself up and down before taking Mr. Coombe’s arm. “I’m not crispy.”

“I’ll explain on the way to the pipeline,” Barry said. “Let’s go.”

Harrison failed to grasp why barbecue was such a big deal until Joe said that experience was the best teacher. Once Barry had run Dracula 2.0 to Iron Heights that evening, the entire team took him out for barbecue. As soon as they walked into the restaurant and Harrison caught a whiff of what was cooking, his mouth watered. “Okay, I think I’m getting the appeal, here.”

“Let’s grab a table,” Iris said happily. “Barry, are you going to try the Gut-Buster challenge?”

“A what now?” Harrison asked as they found an open table and a waitress came toward them with menus.

“A Gut Buster challenge is one of every sandwich and meat dish on the menu plus potato wedges and the dessert of your choice,” Joe said. “Barry tried a few times in high school and actually came close once his growth spurt hit, but he’s not managed it yet.”

“I shot up seven inches over four months,” Barry explained. 

“He was ALWAYS hungry,” Joe added.

“What happens if you finish it?” 

“The meal is free and you get your photo on the wall, as well as a T-shirt that says, ‘I bust my gut!’” Cisco said, fighting down a laugh.

“Do I hear a Gut-Buster contender?” the waitress asked, handing out the menus and filling water glasses.

Barry grinned. “I think with all the running I did today, I could handle it.”

Everybody at the table cracked up, and Harrison was starting to wheeze by the time his turn came to order. “What’s really good here?”

“If this is your first time having barbecue, then you need the ribs,” Cisco advised him.

“Okay, I’ll have a small order of ribs…”

“No, no, no,” Cisco said quickly. “You want a large. They’re that good. Trust me.”

“Okay, I’ll take a large order of ribs and a twice-baked broccoli-cheddar baked potato.”

The waitress smiled, watching the interplay between him and Cisco. “And to drink?”

“The biggest, sweetest iced coffee you’ve got,” Harrison said with longing in his voice.

“We can do that,” she said. “I’ll put your orders right in and we’ll get that Gut-Buster ready.”

“What are restaurants like back home, Harrison?” Joe asked.

“Well, we do have Big Belly Burger, but I was rarely allowed to get anything there,” Harrison said, sipping at the glass of ice water in front of him. “If I was allowed to eat out, it was usually at a very expensive place where everything was organically-grown and the focus of the meal was presentation, not satisfaction. This place is great!”

“Oh, you’ll be satisfied,” Cisco promised. “You’ll have to take your leftovers home in a doggie bag!”

“What’s a doggy bag?”

Caitlin explained how some American restaurants let you take home the food you couldn’t finish, and talk turned in other directions until their waitress arrived, flanked by two others. They were served their orders and Barry was served the Gut-Buster. Harrison gaped a bit at all the food in front of Barry, but he knew the speedster could easily finish it all. Then, he turned his attention to his own meal. The ribs were huge, and the potato was at least three times the size of a normal spud. “Is all of this supposed to be this big? Are you sure this isn’t the Gut-Buster?”

“Satisfaction,” Cisco reminded him, lifting his glass of soda. “Here’s to great teamwork, guys, and a great team!”

Harrison was confused when everyone raised their glasses. “What...is that?”

“A toast,” Joe said. “It’s done to celebrate. We raise our glasses together and tap them, then we drink.”

Harrison smiled and raised his glass, tapping it against everyone else’s. Once they’d all taken a drink, Harrison dug into his meal. Once he’d broken off a rib and bit off some of the meat, he sighed in satisfaction. “You were right. I did want a large.”

“Told you,” Cisco said happily, digging into his own plate of ribs.

“Three sandwiches down!” Iris cheered. “C’mon, Barry, you can do it!”

Harrison joined in the rest of the team in cheering Barry on and slowly worked away at his own meal. When he finished his coffee the waitress seemed to appear out of nowhere and asked if he’d like anything else to drink.

“Join me in having a beer, everybody?”

Harrison couldn’t stop himself and stared at Joe. “I’m allowed to have _beer_?”

Joe recovered quickly as the waitress gave Harrison a confused look. “The doctor cleared you to drink, pal. How about it?”

“Oh, yes. Definitely yes!” Harrison agreed, fighting the impulse to dance in his chair. Three minutes later, he was holding his first beer in years, and he was happy to toast along with everyone else. Barry even stopped for ten seconds to toast, and then he was back to eating. Joe ordered everyone a dessert sampler to share so they could have dessert along with Barry, and it was then that Harrison Wells discovered the glory that was chocolate cheesecake. “Wow,” he said, marveling at what his taste buds had just experienced. “Okay, I have a very, very serious question: What did I just eat, and is there more?”

“That’s their most popular dessert, chocolate cheesecake,” Caitlin told him. “It’s loaded with calories, sugar, and everything else that’s bad for you, but it’s so, so good.”

“It’s everything I want right now,” Harrison said, looking at the sampler platter. “Is there anything else I should try?”

“All of it’s good,” Iris said as the waitress brought their next round of drinks. “Try one of the little round tarts. Their lemon pie is just as good as the cheesecake!”

Harrison grinned and put out his glass. “To dessert and good times!” Everyone else smiled and tapped their glasses against his, and Harrison understood why people liked giving toasts: It felt good!

Barry finished the last of his Gut Buster five seconds before the timer went off, which was a loud buzzer that nearly startled Harrison out of his chair. The entire restaurant started cheering and clapping, and Barry had his picture taken and he was given a T-shirt, which he promptly put on. He looked a little full and definitely drowsy, but he was smiling. “I finally beat the Gut Buster, Joe.”

“Well done, Barry,” Joe said. “You are gonna sleep well tonight, son.”

“I think that would be a good thing,” Barry said. He looked over at Harrison, who was steadfastly making his way through his third piece of dessert. “Harrison, how long has it been since you’ve had desserts?”

“If you mean desserts that have little to no nutritional value but are still very high in sugar and everything they didn’t want me to have, then a long time,” Harrison answered after swallowing his current mouthful. “I think the first time I had anything approaching dessert was that cinnamon-sugar pretzel or the stuff from Sweet Street. This is...wow. That’s the only word that fits.”

Cisco put out his glass. “To wow, everybody!”

Things got a little hazy after that for Harrison. He was sure he’d had another beer, and then he had some more dessert, and then he was outside and he was heading toward the van. “Oh, good. I’ll drive!”

Somehow, he didn’t end up driving, and someone shook him when they got to STAR Labs. He did remember going inside and taking the elevator to the floor where his quarters were located, and he lost a bit of time and then he was lying down and Joe was pulling his shoes off. Confused, Harrison sat up, nearly knocking Joe over. “When’d we get here?”

“A few minutes ago,” Joe said, yanking off his second shoe. “Do you feel like you can get your pajamas on, or d’you need a hand?”

“Can we go back to the barbecue place? I want s’more sheesecake.”

“Yup, he’s drunk,” Harrison heard Cisco’s voice say from somewhere.”

“I’m not in Drunk, I wanna go get some more dessert!” Harrison complained, flopping over. “Wait a second...I think I might be...drunk. How many beers did I have?” He tried to count them up himself and failed. “I had a lot of beers. More beers than I’ve had in yeeeeeearrs.” He stopped and thought about it. “S’at’s a lotta beers.” For some reason, that was hilariously funny, and Harrison heard someone giggling. It took him a few seconds to realize it was himself. He stopped, but he couldn’t stop smiling. Then, he noticed something new. “Hey, the ceiling’s movin’! How’d you guys make it do that? Can you make it go the other way? Yup. There it gooooeess! Wheee!”

“Cisco, you’re not going to post that video online, are you?” Caitlin said from somewhere to Harrison’s right.

“Oh, not to worry, this is for my own, personal enjoyment,” Cisco said, sounding as if he could barely keep back his laughter.

“Harrison, you might be hungover in the morning,” Joe warned him. “Are you okay?”

Harrison laughed again and forgot what was going on. “What now?”

“Are you okay? Should someone stay with you?”

“ ‘M’okay. I’m fiiiine.” He stopped and thought about it. “I’m tired.”

“I’ll stay,” Cisco volunteered. “If he starts talking in his sleep, I wanna catch it!”

Harrison opened his eyes and remembered a mobile phone game that Cisco had been talking about the other day. “Gotta catch ‘em all!”

Even in his dreams that night, Harrison could hear his new friends laughing, and for some reason, that just made him happy.


End file.
